Full Moon And Little Frieda

By Michelle & Ee Kien

Full Moon And Little Frieda• A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket

- And you listening. A spider's web, tense for the dew's touch. A pail lifted, still and brimming - mirror To tempt a first star to a tremor.

Cows are going home in the lane there, looping the hedges with their warm wreaths of breath - A dark river of blood, many boulders, Balancing unspilled milk. 'Moon!' you cry suddenly, 'Moon! Moon!'

The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work That points at him amazed.

Ted Hughes

• Born- 17 August 1930• Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, England• Died- 28 October 1998 (aged 68)

London, England • Occupation- Poet, playwright, writer• Nationality- English• After their mother's death, Ted Hughes took over

the care of his two children, and raised them with his second wife, Carol, on their farm in Devon after their marriage in 1970.

Frieda Hughes

• Frieda Rebecca Hughes (born April 1, 1960) is an English poet and painter.

• She has published seven children's books and four poetry collections and has had many exhibitions.

Deaths

• Her mother committed suicide when Frieda was almost three; her father died of cancer in 1998.

• Frieda Hughes' brother, Nicholas Hughes, also committed suicide on 16 March 2009.

• On February 11, 1963, while Nicholas and his sister slept in the next room, Plath placed towels around the kitchen door to make sure the fumes did not reach their cots, and committed suicide using the toxic gas from the kitchen oven.

Ted Hughes

• Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation.

• Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.

• Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Prime Minister.

How the poem came about

• ‘Full moon and little Frieda’ was written for his daughter, who was 3 at that time, and was learning new words.

• They were living in the countryside, where everything was quiet and still at night, the nature around them.

• Ted Hughes wrote “Full Moon and Frieda” to record the moment that his daughter uttered her first words, which is very interesting as she is the daughter of two literary master-minds.

• Hughes creates a dramatic atmosphere, and carefully chooses his words to build up tension and bring the poem to climax.

Literary Devices used

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Personification

• Alliteration

• Imagery

Literary Devices used

• Metaphor: Line one- ‘a cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket’. Compares the evening to the sound of a dog's bark or clank of a bucket.

• Simile: "The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work" is a simile. Hughes uses a simile “like an artist gazing amazed at a work” to depict the surprise. This surprise is because Frieda is so innocent and so pure that she cries out “moon” as if it were a scientific breakthrough. It seems as if the moon is jealous of her purity, because the moon itself connotes purity and is astonished to find a more innocent person,

• Personification: “To tempt a first star to a tremor” and “Cows are going home” and “The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work.”

Literary Devices used

• Alliteration: “warm wreaths”, “boulders, balancing” and “Moon! Moon!”

• Imagery: “A spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch”, “A pail lifted, still and brimming” and “The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work pointing back at him amazed.” A very distinct image is projected to the reader in the description of the spider web and the moon gazing amazed.

• The image of the spider web, “tense for the dews touch” demonstrates the intense stillness around them, and gives the reader the idea that the entire environment is shrunken and tensed in anticipation for something great. The pail of water which is ‘still and brimming’ reinforces the feeling of expectation, visualizing the tense climate.

Links with other poems

• Full Moon and Little Frieda and Amends:

• Both poems have the moon, which are being personified.

• A slow, peaceful night scene where moonlight illuminates nature.

• Nature and man, both being closely intertwined.

Amends And Full Moon And Little Frieda.

• In the poems ‘Amends’ and ‘Full Moon and Little Frieda’, by Adrienne Rich and Ted Hughes respectively, the poets use language to excite the reader. Their language also helps them to convey their message, and to make their poems more compelling and interesting.

Amends And Full Moon And Little Frieda.

• Repetition of the phrase “as it” in the poem ‘Amends’ sets out the actions of the moon like a list; and is exciting in that it builds up an apprehension for every action. The repetition also shows that the moon goes through these cyclic actions every night, and can be accurately predicted in such a way that the echoing makes this seem like a story being told. The repetition also makes the poem sound gentle and flowing, increasing the reader’s excitement.

Amends And Full Moon And Little Frieda.

• In ‘Full Moon and Little Frieda’, there is also repetition that helps to make the poem exciting. The repetition of the exclamation “Moon!” three times shows the youth and innocence of the child shouting this. It also helps the sudden entrance into the poem of the moon, which has gone unnoticed until this point. Thus, this shows the amazement of the child at this sudden appearance. Another example of repetition in the poem is that of “amazed”. This shows that there is mutual wonder and admiration, and helps to show the high degree of amazement in the “artist gazing” and his work that “points at him”.

Amends And Full Moon And Little Frieda.

• The personification of the moon and the verbs that describe its actions form an integral part of the poem ‘Amends’. The rhyming words “picks”, “licks” and “flicks” are soft words that show how very light the moon’s touch is – some would say a feminine touch. “Rise”, “laying” and “flow”, also from the second stanza, are light, calm and smooth verbs as well. The image of the moon “laying its cheek” is a very soothing, and possibly motherly, gesture that cements this nurturing persona of the moon.

Amends And Full Moon And Little Frieda.

• Personification achieves a similar goal in ‘Full Moon and Little Frieda”. The “spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch” builds up an anticipation of an event, as if even now inanimate objects can sense that something is about to happen. The image of the moon “stepping back” gives it not the matriarchal character of the moon in ‘Amends’, but that of an artist who is taking in the pleasure of what he has created. Thus, the moon develops a distinct identity, and the way the poet used language to do this makes it compelling to readers.